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PRESIDENT LINCOLN; 

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FIGURE IN HISTORY:! 



A DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED IN THE 



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PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, 



JUNE 1st, 1865. 



By JAMES M. MACDONALD, D. D. 



NEW YORK: f^ 

CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 124 GRAND STREET, k^^ 

U^l 1865. (e2/J 



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PRESIDENT LINCOLN; 



FIGURE IN HISTORY: 



A DISCOURSE 



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fti'.st f r-i^slgti'«iaii iluiMli, 



PRTXCETON, XEW JERSEY 



JUNE 1ST, 18G5. 



By JAMES M. MACDONALD, D. D. 



N E W Y R K : 
ClIAllLES SCRIBNER & CO., 124 GRAND STREET. 

18G5. 



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Princeton, July lOlli, 18G5. 
Ret. J. M. Macdoxald, D.D.: 

Dear Sii; — Manv of those avIio liad tlie pleasure of listening to vonr 
admirable discourse delivered in the church on the day of humiliation, 
June 1st, feel desirous of having the same published. The undersigned, 
therefore, beg leave to request that you will be so kind as to furnish 
tliem with a copy thereof for that purpose. 
Very truly, yours, 

P. IIENDPJCKSOl^, 
E. OLDEX, 
I. BAKER, 
JAMES STEBBIXS, 
JOSEPH B. WRIGHT, 
S. ALEX. IIAMILTOX, 
LEAYITT nOWE. 



Peincetox, July Uth, 1865. 

To Messrs. P. Ilendrickson, E. Olden, Isaac Baker. Joseph B. Wright, 
S. Alex. Hamilton, Leavitt Howe, and the Rev. James Stebbius : 

The discourse to which your note of the 10th inst. refers amounts to 
little more than the mere outline of a subject — or rather one aspect of 
the only subject pertinent to tlie day — which, with suitable skill and 
leisure, might have been made ra(ire worthy of the occasion. 

Such as it is, however, T place it at your disposal for the purpose 
n:imed. 

Availing myself of this opportunity of returning you my thanks for 
many acts of personal kindness, 

I remain, gen?,li^men, truly yours, 

J. M. MACDOXALD. 



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OV AMERICA. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

Wlicreas, By my direction, the acting Secretary of State, in a notice 
to the public on the 17th of Ajjril, rciinested the various religious deno- 
minations to assemble on the 19th of April, on the occasion of the obse- 
quies of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States, and to 
observe the same with appropriate ceremonies; and, whereas, our coun- 
try has become one great house of mourninjr, where the head of the 
family has been taken away ; and believing that a special jieriod slunild 
be assigned for again humbling ourselves before Almighty God, in order 
that the bereavement may be sanctified to "the nation ; now, therefore, 
in order to mitigate that grief on earth which can only be assuaged by 
communion with the Father in heaven, and in compliance with the Avishes 
of senators and representatives in Congress, communicated to me by 
a resolution adopted at the National Capital, I, AXDKEW JOHNSON, 
President of the United States, do hereby appoint Thursday, the twenty- 
fifth day of May next, to bo observed, wherever in the United States 
the flag of the country may bo respected, as a day of humiliation and 
mourning, and I recommend my fellow-citizens then to assemble in their 
respective places of worship, there to unite in solemn service to Al- 
mighty God, in memory of the good man who has been removed, so 
that all shall be occupied at the same time in contemplation of his vir- 
tues and sorrow for his sudden and vidlent end. 

In virtue whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal 
of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington the 25th day of April, in the year of 
our Lord 1805, and of the independence of the United States of America 
the 89th. 

ANDKEW JOHNSON 
By the President. 

"W. IIuNTEK, Acting Secretary of State. 



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

A PKOCLAMATION. 

Whereas, By my proclamation of the 25th inst., Tliursda}', the 25th 
(lay of next month, was recommended as a day for special humiliation 
and prayer in consequence of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, 
late President of tlie United States; but, whereas, my attention has 
been called to the fact that the day aforesaid is sacred to large numbers 
of Christians as one of rejoicing for the ascension of the Saviour, now, 
therefore, be it known that I, ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the 
United States, do hereby suggest that tiie religious services recommend- 
ed as aforesaid should be postponed imtil Thursday, the first day of June 
next. 

In testimony whereof I liave hereunto siit my hand and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington, this 29th day of April, iu the year of 
our Lord 1865, and of the independence of the United States of America 
the eighty-ninth. 

ANDREW JOUNSON. 
By the President, 

W. IIuNTEE, Acting Secretary of State. 



DISCOURSE 



In the Proclamation of the President, this has been 
appointed to be observed as "a day of hiiuiiliation and 
rcourning." 

The death of the highest ruler, under any circumstances, 
is an affliction to the entire people. He stands in the same 
relation to all. This is as true in elective and rejjresenta- 
tive, as in hereditary governments. Indeed, it may be more 
eminently true in a system like ours, than in one where the 
highest office descends by inheritance. The Chief Magis- 
trate with us is one of the people, taken from among the 
people, and raised to his high place by' their suifrages, ac- 
cording to the provisions of a Constitution of their own 
adoption, or having their free assent. It matters not that a 
citizen may not have been old enough to join in the suf- 
frage, or that he was out of the country, at the time the 
choice was made, nor even that he felt it to be his duty to sup- 
port an opposing candidate ; his relation as one of the sub- 
jects of government, owing honor, obedience and subjec- 
tion to the chief executive officer, is precisely the same. No 
higher obligation rests upon others than upon him. There 



is to him, for the tirao bsing, no other living man in whom 
centres the supreme authority ; who, charged with main- 
taining the Constitution and Laws, represents the sovereignty 
of the nation. An indignity to him, from any foreign or 
hostile power, is felt by every man as an insult to the nation 
over which he bears rule. No section or party, at such a 
time, will assume that they have an exclusive right, or in- 
terest, in resenting it, or vindicating the nation's offended 
dignity. When the hand of violence is raised against the 
ruler, every man will feel the blow as aimed against himself ; 
and when that blow falls, the concussion will be felt through 
the whole frame-work of civil society. A blow directed 
against the head is against a vital part, and may prostrate 
the body, and destroy its life ; so that which prostrates a 
ruler, who, in his own person represents the supreme author- 
ity, every citizen feels endangers that government which is 
over him, for the protection of his property, person, and re- 
putation. It makes the whole land reel and tremble. It 
shakes every man's house. 

It is well said in the Proclamation appointing this day, 
" Our country has become one great house of mourning, 
where the head of the family has been taken away." It is 
under this touching figure of a household, gathered at the 
tomb of its deceased head, that the nation is invited to as- 
semble, to give some becoming expression of its sorrow. 
The members of such a household may belong to different 
persuasions in religion, to different circles in social, and 
different parties in civil life ; they may even have conflict- 
ing interests, which have issued in serious contests ; but 
they all stand in the same relation to him who is no more, 



and fire snmraoncd to bow, forgetting tlicir differences and 
laying aside their animosities, in common sorrow around his 
lowly bed. The providence of God has solemnly called the 
people of this land to lay aside their bickering and party 
hate. Let this day be sacred to charitable and fraternal 
feeling, and remind lis that, with all our diversities, we are 
not so far apart as we are prone to imagine ! We have 
much to stir and move our tenderest sympathies, and cause 
us to weep together ; and when men's tears flow and mingle 
in one common channel, their hearts cannot be far asunder. 
" There are rare instances," to use the words of an emi- 
nent British statesman, Mr. D'Israeli, pronounced in Par- 
liament with reference to Mr. Lincoln's death ; " there 
are rare instances when the sympathy of a nation approaches 
to those tenderer feelings, that generally are supposed to be 
peculiar to the individual, and to form the hapi)y privilege 
of private life ; and I think tliis is one of them. Under all 
circumstances, we should have bewailed the catastrophe at 
Washington ; under all circumstances we should have shud- 
dered at the means by which it was accomplished. But in 
the character of the victim, and in the very accessories of his 
almost latest moments, there is something so homely and so 
innocent that it takes the subject, as it were, out of the 
pomp of history, and out of the ceremonial of diplomacy.'"' 
If this could be said, with any degree of propriety and truth, 
by a foreigner, with how much greater can it be said, by 
the people of this land. The duty we are called upon to 
perform to-day, is indeed taken out of t\xG class of mere cer- 
monies and parades. The a])peal is directly to our house- 
hold affections, and to those tender sympathies which are 



8 

awakened by the removal of one who stood to us in a near 
and most important relation. 

The crime which has robbed this nation of its President 
receives no softening from time. It stands in unrelieved atro- 
city. In the record that shall be made of it, it will consti- 
tute one of the darkest stains on the pages of human history. 
It made all knees tremble, and all faces gather blackness. 
It caused the nations to stand aghast. A thousand leagues 
of sea seemed unable to break the connexion, or so much as 
to weaken the power of that current of electric sympathy 
that draws and binds human hearts together. It not only 
caused a fearful shadow to fall around the throne of mon- 
archs, but the dwellers in the humblest cottages to feel a 
momentary insecurity, as the imagination conjured up those 
revolutions, and social convulsions, which have often invaded 
and laid waste the most peaceful, secluded homes. Whilst 
we felt called upon to abase ourselves under this new and 
awful proof which the crime afforded, of the deep depravity 
of that race to which its i)erpetrator belonged, we also feel 
called upon, in view of its condemnation, and the horror 
awakened by it, in men's minds, to recognize those linea- 
ments of a once purer nature, upon which, by Divine grace, 
may be re-enstamped the lost image of its God. 

The history of the late head of our nation, is one of the 
most marvellous on record. Among the prominent figures 
in the annals of the world, I know of none precisely resem- 
bling his, or, in some respects, to be compared with it. By 
the side of those of Ceesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon and 
Washington, it takes its place, with its own striking pecu- 
liarities of feature and costume. It can never fail to be 



easily identified in that throng, however great it may become, 
of men whom Providence raises up to control the destiny of 
nations, as his bodily form, by its lofty height and peculiar- 
ity of outline, readily pointed him out, in whatever crowds 
or assemblies he made his appearance. To sketch his 
career will awaken the ambition of many a writer ; and he 
who would do it successfully must possess the highest gifts 
— the charity of the Christian, the mind of the philosopher, 
the heart of the philanthropist, and the graphic jjcn of the 
dramatist, "The romance of history " is an exjiression made 
familiar to us, by book-writers, who have sought to cull from 
its pages scenes and adventures, which, literally true, are 
more strange than fiction itself The history of Abraham 
Lincoln presents just this sort of material, not in single 
episodes, but in its whole extent from beginning to end. 

At the close of our last war with England, of which so 
many survivors have a distinct recollection, and in which 
some took an active part, he was a mere child of some six 
years of age. He was almost literally a native of the forest, 
having been born, and spent his early childhood, in Central 
Kentucky, then a new and sparsely-settled State. Here, 
although there had been some progress since the first set- 
tlers, among them his grandfather, had been exposed to the 
tomahawks of savages, he spent the first years of his child- 
hood, in the hardy toil peculiar to families on the frontier, 
in incessant struggles for the plainest subsistence. School- 
houses and common schools were entirely unknown. Oc- 
casionally, there were what were styled neighborhood 
schools, taught for a few months in the year, in the cabin of 
one of the more prosperous settlers. His father had never 



10 

learned to read, and could barely form the letters, iu the 
rudest way, composing his signature. His mother was able 
to read, but not to write ; both parents, however, are said to 
have been excellent Christian people, members of the Bap- 
tist Church. Their cabin was without a floor, with one 
door, and one window, having a few most necessary articles 
of furniture, made of slabs and split logs, by the same hands 
that built the house. The only books it contained were a 
Bible, a Catechism, and a copy of Dilworth's Spelling-book. 
His mother read the Bible to her family every day, and on 
the Sabbath, much of the time was spent in this way. 
While he lived in Kentucky, it is said, he never saw even 
the exterior of what was properly a church edifice. But he 
attended a school taught in the neighborhood, for a short 
time ; and with such further assistance as he received at 
home, was able to read well at the age of seven. Summing 
up all the days of his actual attendance on school instruc- 
tion, it is estimated the amount would hardly exceeed one 
year. The first book he read, after the Spelling-book, was 
his mother's Bible. We can easily imagine what an avidity 
there must have been in the mind of such a child for the 
narratives and parables of this blessed book, in the seclusion 
of his wilderness home. Two years later, the death of his 
mother doubtless served to impress still more deeply on his 
mind the pious lessons he had received from her lips, and 
had learned from the book she had loved so well. The 
second book he read was Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, bor- 
rowed for him, by his father, at a settlement eighteen miles 
distant from his home. He read it with eagerness. His 
next book was Esop's Fables, given to him by a neighbor, 



11 

which he perused till he knew almost all of them by heart. 
His next books were the '* Life of Washington," the " L'fe 
of Franklin," and " Plutarch's Lives." Notice the hand of 
Providence, in the kind of books that were put in the way of 
this boy, whose home was so far from where schools and 
books abound, wlio was to be raised up to fill so high a place, 
and perform so great a part in the affairs of men. While 
his perceptive faculties and muscular energies wxrc being 
developed, by the frequent employment of the rifle, in the 
pursuit of the wild game that filled the woods, and in the 
labors of tlic plantation, it was necessary that his intellec- 
tual and moral life should have something to feed and jrrow 
upon ; and how wonderfully were the means provided by 
that Power that rules the world, whose child and pupil he 
was ! What college of educators w^ould venture to change 
one of the books, or so much as vary their order, found in 
his curriculum. A youthful neighbor and friend, who knew 
how to make the letters, taught him to write ; but as paper 
could not well be afforded in sufiScient quantity, he prac- 
tised the art on slabs and the trunks of trees, with a bit of 
chalk or charcoal, and with his finger or a pointed stick, 
in the sand or snow. His first letter w^as w^ ritten for his 
father, and addressed to a clergyman, an old friend of the 
family ; and such was its excellence both in penmanship and 
expression, that he was soon called upon to write a large 
number of the letters of the settlement. His attention and 
memory w^ere such at this time that he could repeat nearly 
all the sermons he heard. Who can estimate tlic im- 
portant work performed in the education of the com- 
mon mind by those self-denying men, who are borne on the 



12 

tide of emigration into our western wiltls, themselves bear- 
ing the Gospel of the great Teacher ? 

When he was little more than seven years old, his 
father, in the spirit of the true frontiersman, removed with 
his family from Kentucky, where the game was getting 
scarce, and neighbors were crowding in too closely, to seek 
a new home in lonelier wilds. The journey was made in 
true emigrant style, in a wagon, drawn by oxen ; the cow, 
so necessary to their comfort, driven behind. The Ohio 
was crossed on a raft. The mother and daughter ride in 
the wagon with the household effects. The father drives 
the team, and to the future President of the United States 
is committed the care of the indispensable cow. But 
it will not be possible, nor is it necessary to the design 
I have in view, to pursue these simple annals of a brave 
and cheerful struggle with a humble lot. Suffice it to add, 
that at a period so recent as when many who hear me, who 
are still vigorously pursuing the active duties of life, had 
entered on those duties, and had already reached stations 
of influence and usefulness, but little more than thirty 
years ago, Abraham Lincoln, according to the j)ublic 
accounts of him to which I have had access, was toiling to 
subdue the wild lands in what was then the far West, or 
as a boatman on the Ohio and Mississippi Kivers. Can 
anything seem more strange than that one, who had been 
favored with so few advantages for mental culture in early 
life, and who, after arriving at the years of manhood, was 
still pursuing a humble calling, should, when scarcely more 
than fifty years of age, reach one of the highest and most 
powerful stations it can ever fall to the lot of man to fill ? 



13 

He could hold the plough, was a notable chopper and 
splitter, and inured to every description of the most hardy 
toil. It has been said of him, that he could adapt himself 
to any honest work which circumstances required, and with 
a cheerfulness and alacrity — a certain practical humour — 
rarely equalled. He could turn off the hardest labor as a 
mere pastime ; and his manly presence was as a constant 
inspiration and a charm to ligliten the burdens of others. 
He continued to read the few books that came within his 
reach, with avidity ; and in the v/inter evenings,, read 
them by the mere light of tlie blazing fire-place, when no 
better resource was at hand. Tlie first office he was called 
to fill was that of a captain of volunteers in the Black 
Hawk War, having been elected to it by the company 
which he had been efficient in raising. 

But we cannot follow him from step to step, as he en- 
tered on the most difficult work, under all his disadvan- 
tages, of preparing himself for one of the learned profes- 
sions ; nor in his early and almost immediate success in 
that profession. Although he had risen to great prominence 
and influence in the West, having represented his district 
in Congress, still he was scarcely known, so much as by 
name, to the nation at large, at the time his predecessor in 
the office of President entered on his duties. The speaker 
confesses that he has no recollection of ever having heard 
of him at that time. It was his celebrated debate with 
the lamented Senator Douglass which first brought him 
prominently before the public. 

He was elected President of the United States, 
signally illustrating that sovereignty of Divine Providence, 



14 

whicla the Scriptures so distinctly recognize as controlling 
the appointment of the rulers of the world : " The Most 
High riileth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whom- 
soever He will ! " [Dan. 4, 16.] " Promotion cometh 
neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 
But God is judge : He putteth down one, and setteth np 
another." [Ps. 76, 67.] The land was not without its 
distinguished and tried men, great orators, great statesmen, 
acute publicists, learned jurists, wise diplomatists, — ^but no 
one of these was taken for the chief place at the critical 
period in its history which was at hand, — to sit at the 
helm during the storm that was about to strike the ship of 
state. " There is a principle of movement," says an emi- 
nent modern historian, " emanating from God himself, in 
all the changes among nations. God looks upon that wide 
stage on which the generations of men successively meet 
and struggle. He is there, it is true, an invisible God ; 
but if the profaner multitude pass before him without no- 
ticing him because he is 'a God that hideth himself,' 
thoughtful spirits, and such as feel their need of the prin- 
ciple of their being, seek him with the more earnestness, 
and are not satisfied until they lie i)rostrate at his feet. 
And their search is richly rewarded. For, from the heights 
to which they are obliged to climb to meet their God, the 
world's history, instead of offering, as to the ignorant crowd, 
a confused chaos, appears a majestic temple, which the 
invisible hand of God erects, and which rises to His glory 
above the rock, of humanity."* 

Mr. Lincoln's history, following the a2:)pointment to his 

* Merle D'Aubignc, Pref. to Hist, of Reformation. 



15 

high office, is known to every ehilJ, is familiar as house- 
hold words. And it fully justifies, no less than its earlier 
and more private portion, the sui generis character I have 
ventured to ascrihe to it, by which I think it will be dis- 
tinjruished in the annals of the great rulers of the world. 
From the time he entered the capital, in so unexpected a 
manner, his history has been made up of a series of sur- 
prises and thrilling events, which can occur only in the 
most momentous periods. Never had an earthly ruler a 
more difficult task imi)Osed ui)on him. He fully realized 
it, and felt the awful sublimity of his position, when in his 
second Annual message to Congress, he used these eloquent 
words : 

"Fellow Citizens, We cannot escape history. 
We of this Congress and this Administration will 

BE remembered IN SPITE OF OURSELVES, No PERSONAL 
significance, OR INSIGNIFICANCE, CAN SPARE ONE OR 
ANOTHER OF US. TilE FIERY TRIAL THROUGH WHICH WE 
PASS WILL LIGHT US DOWN IN HONOR OR DISHONOR, TO 
THE LATEST GENERATION." 

We identify him with all the acts of his ministers ; — 
with all the successes, defeats, delays, victories, and the 
final triumph o^ his groat captains. Their connexion 
with the terrible struggle through which the nation has 
been passing, is what will band their names down to pos- 
terity ; and their histories will constitute but so many 
separate passages, or distinct chapters, in his. His mem- 
ory will be associated with campaigns, battles, sieges, and 
bombardments, such as the world had never seen, on so 



16 

grand a scale, before ; and such as, by the mercy of God, 
we pray it may never have occasion to see again. 

The scenes of April, thirty days, the history of which 
surpasses all that mortal pen eve r essayed, close the drama 
of his life. He appears in the subdued capital of the Con- 
federacy, the very impersonation of his own words, " With 
malice towards none, with charity for all ;" and may well 
congratulate himself that his painful and difficult task is 
nearly accomplished, the insurrection suppressed ; whilst in 
the process, slavery, agreeably to the anticipations and 
predictions of some of the wisest men at the South, when 
warning their fellow citizens against secession,* has been 
probably completely extinguished. Again he hastens back 
to Washington, while his generals are arranging the capitu- 
lation of the armies they have overcome, revolving the 
weighty problems involved in the restoration of the seceded 
States. 

The whole country is bright with illuminations, and the 
welkin rings with the plaudits of a rejoicing people, wel- 
coming the return of peace, as the 14th of April dawns. 
It is already a marked day in the nation's calendar. Pre- 
cisely four years before, — it being only another of those 
striking coincidences which have marked the progress of the 
late "war, — the country was startled with the tidings of the 
evacuation of Fort Sumter. When all are unsuspecting, 
himself the most so of all, murder haunts the steps of the 

* Hon. A. H. Stephens, in a speech in the Georgia Convention, 1861, pro- 
nounced it an " unwise and impolitic act," by which they might lose all and 
have their last slave wrenched from them, "by stern military rule, or by the 
vindictive decree of a universal emancipation, which may reasonably be ex- 
pected to follow." 



17 

chief magistrate, and a tragedy such as actor never played 
in, and the mimic stage never saw before, was enacted. On 
the anniversary of the day, when four years before, the 
hearts of the people had been so stirred and drawn together 
almost as the heart of one man, annihilating for the time 
party lines and names, by the proclamation of the President 
for seventy-five thousand men, their hearts are drawn to- 
gether again as one, by the news of his death by the hand 
of an assassin. The event is too recent, the impressions 
too deep, and the emotions of that awful day too strong, 
to need any comment of mine. Almost petrified, fairly 
stunned, we fled to God's altars in this house. •••" We recall 
the solemn and impressive ceremonies, amidst the throng 
assembled here, on the day devoted to his obsequies.f The 
funeral pageant, as the dead President was borne to the 
tomb in his loved Illinois, was observed by millions of the 
people. And now, again, is the nation assembled, in ac- 
cordance with the invitation of his successor in office, to 
express its sense of bereavement, and commemorate the 
virtues of the illustrious deceased. 

I am fully sensible of my incompetence to estim ite 
aright such a character as that of Mr. Lincoln ; but will 
venture, nevertheless, to refer you to a few of what seem to 
me to have been its more striking traits. 

He appears to have been distinguished for an nnaff.'cted 

* The following iavitation was issued, in printed form, by the Pastor and 
Session: "In view of the very mournful events at the seat of government 
the people are invited to assemble for prayer in the First Presbyterian Church, 
at 4 o'clock this afternoon." A numerous congregation assembled. ' 

f A highly appropriate discourse was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Maclean, 
at the request of the pastor. The churcli was crowded in every pirt. 

2 



18 

simplicity of character, such as would be naturally developed 
by that primitive state of society and plain style of life, in 
which he passed the days of his youth. He was a cliild of 
nature, receiving his first impressions in sequestered scenes 
remote from cities and the marts of trade. He was a man 
of the people, and seems to have found it difficult, in his 
high station, to surround himself with those conventional 
forms and rules which are probably essential to every such 
station ; and could never assume that chilling reserve which 
some, similarly exalted, seem to think necessary to the pre- 
servation of dignity. He bore his honors meekly. 

It is evident he possessed, in no small degree, sagacity 
in practical affairs, and knowledge of human nature. In 
the university at which he graduated he studied men rather 
than books. He understood the common mind. He knew 
what was fitted to move the masses. He weighed well the 
principles of human action. He understood what power there 
often is in mere delay, or waiting ; that a measure which 
would be altogether unsuccessful to-day, may be carried 
into successful execution to-morrow. This was illustrated 
asain and again in the course of his administration. But 
he was called to deal not only with the common mind, but 
with experienced statesmen and practised politicians. And 
he so administered affairs in so trying a period of our his- 
tory, during his first term, that leading and powerful men 
of his own party, notwithstanding their unmistakable wishes 
and plans for some different result, found his renomination 
;an inevitable and foregone conclusion. 

But it is to the excellence of his private moral character 
that we refer with the greatest satisfaction, on an occasion 



19 

like this. With such vast resources at his command, m) 
advantage appears to liave been taken of his position for his 
own emolument, or that of his family."'''' No bribe ever 
polluted his hands. He leaves, in this regard, as an inheri- 
tance to his children, and as a lesson to his country (God 
grant it may not be lost, needed so much as it is, in times 
like these !) a character of spotless integrity. It has been, 
said of him, that he was a "man without vices."' Sure we 
are, that in the purity of his private morals, and in his 
habits of the strictest temperance, he is a worthy example 
to be set before the youth, and all the rulers and men of the 
earth. He appears to have cherished a deep sense of his 
dependence on Divine Providence. Many of his expressions, 
in his public utterances, indicate a familiar acquaintance 
with the Sacred Scriptures, such as could be acquired only, 
in continuance of the habits to which a pious mother had 
trained him, by a diligent perusal of them. And his re- 
peated requests to be remembered in the prayers of Chris- 
tian people, made, as we believe, not for form's sake, or mere 
effect, but in the sincerity of a truthful nature, are deeply 
affecting. 

To this purity of morals and spotless integrity, there 
seems to hnvQ been joined a most amiahlc disposition and' 
a singular kindness and goodness of nature. There are no 
anecdotes told of Mr. Lincoln more honorable than those 
which relate to his condescension and attention to humble,, 
friendless people, who had made their way to the doors of 



* Tlie administrator of his estate has informetl the public, that it will not 
amount to more than $75,000. A considerable portion of this must have been 
'he fruit of his successful practice of the profession of law. 



20 

the White HousCj with some petition for relief, or act of 
clemency. He seemed never to forget that he was once lone 
and friendless himself A woman's voice, an infant's wail, 
would cause that door to fly open, which was so hard of en- 
trance to mere speculators and office-seekers. And may not 
Divine Providence have selected him for this very reason, 
or for this especially, to be the ruler in times which must 
necessarily bring so many bitter woes and griefs on private 
families and obscure men and women. He was one who from 
his natural kindness of disposition could do as much as any 
other to alleviate the pain and animosity which distinguish 
times of civil war. It has been said that the commanders of 
the armies sometimes complained, that when they passed a 
sentence which they conceived to be not more than just, the 
President was almost sure to temper its severity. And 
when the armies were at length victorious, it was this pe- 
culiar character that would have qualified him "to temper 
the pride of victory, to assuage the misfortunes which had 
been felt, and especially to show, w^hich he was well quali- 
fied to do, that respect for valour on the opposite side, 
which has been so conspicuously displayed. He had, more- 
over, an authority (the authority of a man tried and proved) 
which no one else had, to temper that exasperation which 
always happens in civil strife." *•'•" 

The close of his career shed a lustre on his character, and 
seemed almost to transfigure him. Above the smoke and 
flames of war, to adopt the language of one of our eloquent 
journalists, "he rose superior to the evil passions of the hour, 
and stood in Richmond a man less lofty in his gigantic per- 

* Lord J. Russell, in Parliament, May 1. 



21 

son, than he was in gifts of soul. The army of the North 
had surrounded him with all the pom}) and circumstance of 
the conqueror. Unintoxicated hy power, moderate in the hour 
of triumph, as he had been firm in the hour of defeat, he 
stood upon the abandoned earthworks of Richmond with an 
outstretched hand whicli glowed for every man willing to grasj) 
it in fraternity, with a genial human heart. No animosities, 
in that moment of dizzy triumph, blurred his intellect, or 
arrested his humanity. He rose to the level of a great op- 
portunity. A tenderness of nature, a simple earnestness of 
human sympathy, taught him that souls of men can be 
subdued but by loftiness of soul. The advance of bayonets, 
and rifles, and artillery, had but brought him within reach 
of the Southern heart, and he grasped the opportunity in a 
fashion, that, whether the suggestion of intellect, or the 
promptings of a grand soul, touched the key-note of true 
statesmanship." 

May his mantle, and a double portion of his spirit, fall 
upon his successor ; and the influence of his great example 
not be lost upon the people over whom he ruled, and who 
have cause so deeply to deplore his death ! Then it may be 
said of him as an eminent historian has said of one of the 
most conspicuous men of antiquity, whom he so closely re- 
sembled in his fate ; " The conspirators had imagined that 
twenty poniards would suffice to take Caesar's life. But 
never was Caesar so truly living, so powerful, so formidable 
as he was when their blows had pierced the mere case and 
garment of Caesar, his worn and weary mortal frame." * 

This day has been assigned not merely to mourning, but 
* Michelet. 



22 

to another duty altogether germane to it, to wit : " for again 
humbling ourselves before Almighty God, in order that 
the bereavement may be sanctified to the nation." 

Afflictions are sent for our humiliation. They are not to 
be treated as of no account, or submitted to with stoical apa- 
thy, or interpreted as only one of the mysterious methods of 
expressing the Divine loving-kindness. There is no alchemy 
by which we can transmute chastisements and judgments 
into smiles of approbation. When the Most High uses the 
rod of correction, he means that we should feel and cry out 
under his hand. It becomes us to "consider" in the day of 
adversity, and " not despise the chastening of the Lord." 
Our first great duty is deeply to realize that our afflictions 
come from his hand. It has been one of the most hopeful 
signs, that the acknowledgment has been so general, not 
only from all classes of religionists, even errorists, who are 
so apt to go astray whenever the doctrine of God's sove- 
reignty is involved, but worldly men also, who so seldom re- 
cognize his government, that the loss of the President, 
although it was brought about by an assassin, was neverthe- 
less in accordance with his providential will, " his most holy, 
wise, and powerful will preserving and governing all his crea- 
tures, and all their actions." Then let us meekly and j)a- 
tiently bow to that will. " Be still and know that he is 
God ; he will be exalted among the nations, he will be ex- 
alted in the earth." (Ps. 46, 10.) 

Let us humble ourselves on account of our sins, and 
honestly inquire what those sins are which are rebuked of 
Him. may the fiery trial through which we have been 
passing, "purely purge away all our dross, and take away all 



23 

our tin. Ami then will the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the 
Mighty One of Israel, restore our judges as at the first, and 
our counsellors as at the beginning : afterward we shall be 
called The city of righteousness^ The faithful city. Zion 
shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with 
righteousness." (Isa. 1, 25 — 27.) 






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